The Crash

Thirty years ago I was sitting in my office, a bearded thirtysomething guy who was omniscient, swaggered in cowboy boots and had a rock-hard body glistening beneath his stylish suit. In short, nothing’s changed. Except the world.

A journalist and daily newspaper columnist at the time, it was my job to explain money and markets to the masses. In the corner of my office was the latest high-tech device, a 400-pound Dow Jones machine which churned out an endless stream of news on four-inch-wide paper (yes, actual paper, like from trees) and dinged in excitement when something important happened.

Well, the bell never stopped. Monday, October 19th, 1987 was an utter disaster around the world and one of the scariest moments in the life of anybody with investments. Stocks crashed, cratered and croaked in the worst sell-off ever seen previously, or since. My office slowly filled with people drawn by the constant dings as the Dow smashed downward through one resistance point after another.

By the close, the index had shed 22.61% of its value. In one day. It was pure nausea. The fear of the next trading session was overwhelming. By Friday everything could be worth zero. At five I sat to write my column and the page one story for the next morning’s editions, laced with hyperbole and drama – spun as only a man who knows everything can spin. I even selected a few pictures of guys on bread lines in 1930s Toronto to illustrate the piece. We were all pooched.

Of course, the world survived. Central banks slashed interest rates the next day. Governments found billions in stabilizing funds. The smart money swooped in like a blizzard of locusts to feed on all those broken and bent equities, and markets eventually roared back. I began to comprehend that when the world ends, it will not be with a bang, but a whimper. A melt, not a crash.

By the way, that one-day 22% dump thirty years ago was twice as bad as the steepest one in 1929. In contrast, the worst hit we took in the 2008-9 credit crisis was a mere 8% stock market slide. My, how we have become a society of wusses.

Well, October 19th may also mark the end of our finance minister. Bill Morneau had one of the worst days of his life on Thursday. First he was forced to appear at another tawdry event in Hicksville, broadcast live and grainy on Facebook, and announce the government is totally abandoning one of the three small-business busters announced in July.

Minister Morneau announced today that the Government will not be moving forward with measures relating to the conversion of income into capital gains. During the consultation period, the Government heard from business owners, including many farmers and fishers that the measures could result in several unintended consequences, such as in respect of taxation upon death and potential challenges with intergenerational transfers of businesses. The Government will work with family businesses, including farming and fishing businesses, to make it more efficient, or less difficult, to hand down their businesses to the next generation.

The T2 government retreat’s been stunning. Almost total. They spent months suggesting the majority of small business owners are tax cheats, loopholers and social parasites systematically ripping off the middle class, in order to push ill-considered plans to penalize working couples, gut the retirement savings of entrepreneurs, piss off doctors who abided by every statute and threaten family farms.

It was the worst political messaging seen in decades. Millions of self-employed were vilified to justify more tax. People who had never broken a single rule were suddenly decapitated in this blog’s comment section by those who swallowed Ottawa’s unbelievable propaganda.

So here we are. Liberal defeat. The feds have reversed course and agreed to the Harper-era small business tax cut to 9%. Retained earnings will not be taxed into dust. Business owners can accumulate up to about a million and invest it for growth, to be taxed at normal levels. The no-capital gains proposal has been shelved. And up next (tomorrow) could be back-tracking on the income-splitting ban, done in the name of gender parity.

Minister of Finance to Discuss Tax Fairness and Support for Small Businesses

Minister of Finance Bill Morneau, along with Minister of Small Business and Tourism Bardish Chagger, will discuss the Government’s proposals to improve tax fairness and support for small business, at an event in Waterloo.

Worse for Mr. Morneau is the shredding of his creds, as detailed here yesterday. So on October 19th, two full years after become minister of finance, he agreed to place assets in a blind trust (as required) and sell off others which had put him in a major conflict of interest. Too little. Much too late. It will be a long time before people forget about the French villa he hid inside a holding company, the fact his family company specializes in tax avoidance for 1%ers, or that he deliberately dodged the Ethics Commissioner with his $43 million in shares while going after yoga studios.

Good god Billy. You can spoon with Bernie Marx Sanders
down in Vermont and build that amazing socialist utopia you so desired. Of course the masses are fooled by the guise of socialism as it is all about increasing the wealth and power of the Kleptocracy that you belong to. Then when the use of big govt as a weapon is curtailed by the government bond holders you goons team up with the large global banks and other creditors and finish strip mining whatever is left
Good riddance – resign now

Everybody should have equal right to receive income and pay associated taxes. If a person chooses to do that by not working that is their decision to make. Asking people to prove that they are entitled to income because they earned it on some “reasonable” basis is a gross intrision into people’s lives. Somehow nobody cares to call out the government on that. Are we really that used to ever increasing interference in private matters by the growing armies of bureaucrats that we don’t even notice when the next offense happens? Everybody is focused on the “sprinkler” in this story but what about “spriklee’s” rights?

I remember Oct19th 1987 very well indeed.
I was working in an office building at Pender and Howe and C.M. Oliver Investments had the bottom two floors of 750 West Pender.
The floors were full of yelling and screaming traders until about 1pm……then they all swarmed over to the Jolly Taxpayer pub to drown their losses in a sea of booze.
Wasnt a pretty picture
The next day no one showed up for work at C.M. Oliver……no one.

I am sure you find it hard to find the connection so let me see if I can make it easier.

Retained earnings is the profit that the business owner has saved up over the years.

The wages are paid out of operating income. Higher the operating income, lower the retained earnings.

So as a business owner , it is not a question of affordability but a question of keeping my business profitable. I am not running a charity. I understand the concept is hard to understand for you but try harder.

Have you been able to even afford an almond in your life or you got one at the food back where you volunteer as your rhetoric goes.

JT is in a terrible position, between a rock and a hard place. In order to keep the present social welfare system going, along with meeting all the future unfunded liabilities , he has to raise taxes. He has also discovered that he has hit the bleeding edge. Any future tax initiatives will not generate any more revenue.

Its almost like there are some people in this country that aren’t mouth breathing knuckle dragging SJW trans-cheering feminist social parasites that have brains. Oh I guess that would be small business owners, and the professionals that service that industry. Jeez I cant imagine there’s any correlation here.

Well done Canada! Also a great big MAGA hat tip to Emperor Trump. Don’t kid yourself, he indirectly played a role in this too. Him fighting for a lower & simplified business & personal tax system forced the 2 or 3% of government officials with brains to stop and say “Justin stop looking at your socks and listen, there will be nothing left to tax if they lower and we drop the hammer”. Maybe after the billions of investments and thousands of jobs were lost when the two huge projects got nixed this year, a lightbulb turned on.

Maybe there is hope after all!

You ignorant fools that swallow CNN and call Trump every name in the book should apologize and thank the man, he made your life better. Whine and deny it all you want, those are the facts!

Top-tier Canadian-born female managers earn, on average, 86.5% less than their male counterparts, with nearly $94,800 of that difference coming from additional remuneration, including bonuses.

Even sectors that have a predominantly female workforce such as preschool and early childhood education have a significant pay gap. According to the website Feminist Frequency, Canadian women in the preschool sector are paid on average 61.9% less than men, compared with a national gender pay gap of 40%.

It’s terrible that Morneau and Trudeau are just laying it at the feet of the Ethics Commissioner. It is easy to connect the dots on this one and this is coming off so cowardly. Just own it. Morneau needs to resign.

Gender parity, haha I love it. All these self-proclaimed “I’m a male feminist” by PM Snowflakes are being turned against him.

Listen PM, you probably stalk this comment section just to stroke your ego, just remember your hair and smile don’t make you invincible. Your pandering to one section of population will be used against you eventually.

I understood that morneau had consulted the ethics commussioner and she had recommended that he establish a trust, not that it was mandatory. If that is true then I believe that he may survive. I hope I am wrong on this

Some leading psychologists note that people when lying have a tendency to blink in a different pattern then when they are not lying.
The finance minister when confronted with his conflicts of interest i’m sure is blinking SOS.
Inside trading not applicable to Justin’s buds or advisors I guess.
Golden rule applies again.
Those with the gold rule:

I remember October 19, 1987. I had such an unsophisticated investment scheme: Term Deposits at the prevailing percent, I think maybe 8 or 10%? And some CSBs that were called the ‘super bonds’.

Looking back, I realize why all my investments remained so dreadfully conservative for way too long.

I like these historical reminiscences, because the info provides a good perspective to remind me how cyclical everything can be. Let’s have some more stories of past events, when the politics gest too grim to report.

Your foolish rage is pointed in the wrong direction young friend, even though id bet were about the same age.

They tax us all for schools, and then loan obscene amounts so you can “get ahead and get a good job” at university.

After 12-16 years of government run schooling what are you worth on the open market? In most cases, nothing. Which is why they have to enforce a minimum wage. Its them admitting they screwed up without having to admit it.

Stop wasting tax dollars, stop with the 250k diversity coordinators, stop with the welfare state, stop with all the crap that anyone with half a brain can see offers absolutely zero return. Let people keep more of their money and they will do a far better job than any idiotic government program will ever offer.

Its not our fault SCM, its the governments. Stop looking to them to solve problems, they just can’t do it.

Very interesting analysis by Stephen Punwasi who is forecasting the price of a typical home in Toronto will fall by 26% over the next 4 years. Full article worth a read.
I would have rounded the forecast down to 25% – as the 26% implies a level of accuracy that does not exist – in my view.

“Today a typical home in Toronto costs $780,000, and that’s just a typical home not a detached. By 2021, this model shows the cost of a typical home in Toronto would be around $574,000 in 2017 dollars, about 26% lower. Now, those are 2017 dollars – not the sticker you would pay in 2021.”

I would like to know whom the crafter of the message was and it can’t be Trudeau, too dim witted to me to have come up with something as encompassing and targeted as their proposed small business tax changes.

And it can’t be Morneau, anybody dumb enough to do what he did flaunting blind trusts can’t be the one either.

No, it has to be an adviser(s) that got CRA to do the research they wanted, fill in the blanks for them with data to suit the message and convince our 2 Pretty Boy salesmen to do the talking.

Oddly enough many of the Conservative wage slaves I work with are in favor of the new anti-business rules. They know too many people abusing the loopholes to essentially pay little to no tax. The Libs seem to be partially successful in creating a rift amoungst people of all stripes, Marx would be proud.

Ever since B-20 took to the runway my rental condo that is on the market for over 100 days has been on fire for viewings. No HAM but, strangely enough, all Boomers. Maybe they want their basements back. One of my buddies who is a very successful real estate broker (in the industry for more than a couple decades, in the top 5% in Canada) has been cold calling clients asking for referrals, you can almost feel the desperation in his voice.

Within an hour of the B-20 announcement I got an email about a learning session about what the new rules mean, hosted by 2 mortgage brokers and someone from the Big6. The theme basically seemed to elude to buy now or you won’t have enough money in the new year.

I smell a double top forming in TO (or at least a nice head and shoulders on the monthly).

Let’s hope we don’t see those kind of market drops anytime soon. Should it drop 8% or 22% in a day, nothing to be done other than rebalance and hopefully ride the wave back up. Well, it was bound to happen. From Tuesday and at 8.02%, my lovely balanced and duversified portfolio dropped “dramatically” to 7.96% Wednesday and 7.87% today. Even with this sad news, another dividend should get declared in the next day or so and that should hopefully turn that frown upside down. Onward and onward.

As for the politics piece from today’s blog, I really don’t understand the hubris of it all. Politicians must really take the sheeple for…well…sheeple. But even sheeple are not that dense. At least, some of them.

So who was the genius who cooked up this masterful mid summer exploding turd? Morneau takes the beating, T2 the hapless will stammer through question period “because he is the PM”. Butts (the unelected) hides in his office cooking up more idiocy.

Butt of course: Gender is to be included in the NAFTA negotiations but hands off the dairy cartel.

Two more years and legalized weed will be their only legacy.(which is already defacto legal here in Vansterdam by simply telling the cops to lay off and go chase real criminals)

More naive than nefarious. Nothing but bad optics. Peckerhead Polieviere still noting but a “nattering nabob of negativity.” (Yes, I still miss JC, the most colourful parliamentarian ever). But …. the kick in the kiwis to Butts works for me.

In regards to the New Zealand election. Did anyone notice how 2 parties (Labour and NZ First) are forming a coalition (with a 3rd party backing) and forming government. The ruling Conservatives (National party) are stepping down. This is called Westminster Parliamentary democracy. Most boomers and conservatives are not at all familiar with this.

Any of you boomers recall what the evil robot tyrant from Alberta with a chip on his shoulder did when multiple parties with more seats than him tried to form government?

You boomers could learn a lesson about democracy from New Zealand. I did nearly forget how much Conservatives hate democracy when it doesn’t go their way.

We need a policy suite that promotes entrepreneurial growth and allows everyone the same opportunities to rise up and achieve success based on their own effort. Good to see T2 back off from these misguided tax policies.

Hey flop……Here’s one for you… 5276 10a avenue Tsawwassen BC
Bought in 2016 (apr19) for 1.238 million
For sale now asking 1.290 million (on market 70 days as of today)
Nothing done to it as I can tell, maybe they did put money in who knows.

Congrats whiny SME owners. You get to keep your special tax privileges. Just remember it may likely be the NDP coming for you next time. To all the Cons backslapping each other, remember this means your cherished fighters and naval shipbuilding is unfunded.

After the dust settles…and rather than doing the honourable thing ( suggestions are actions somewhere between hari kari and resignation )…..it is clear that we are seeing a sequel to movie “Stuck on You”., whereby we apparently have politically co-joined “EAU” twins…Turdeau and Moroneau…double or nothing.

—-Moroneau didn’t have the honour to resign
—-Turdeau didn’t have the guts to can him

You want to dial back immigration, yet you’re cheering for the Liberals to win again in ON?

You want proportional representation, yet you cheer lead for the very Liberals who quashed the idea (yet again). Give yer head a shake pal. And for gawd’s sake go see what the rest of the province is like outside of the GTA.

#119 yesterday Ogopogo
Scummy realtors and filthy minions….thats just totally disrespectful.
Perhaps you should search out better business associates and advisors. There are credible professionals who for a fee will advise you accordingly. Of course you have to pay for quality advice.
With a million dollar investment portfolio earning 7% you could expect to pay a $7,500 annual fee. Every year.
For professional advice on a million dollar residence purchase – you may pay a $7,500 fee. Once.
……gotta ask – do you do your own dental work?
Ouch!

#52 SCM on 10.19.17 at 7:37 pm
In regards to the New Zealand election. Did anyone notice how 2 parties (Labour and NZ First) are forming a coalition (with a 3rd party backing) and forming government. The ruling Conservatives (National party) are stepping down. This is called Westminster Parliamentary democracy. Most boomers and conservatives are not at all familiar with this.

Any of you boomers recall what the evil robot tyrant from Alberta with a chip on his shoulder did when multiple parties with more seats than him tried to form government?

You boomers could learn a lesson about democracy from New Zealand. I did nearly forget how much Conservatives hate democracy when it doesn’t go their way.

===================================

Have you ever actually had an original thought whatsoever, or are you only capable of blaming some nebulous demographic for your woes? Talk about a chip on the shoulder.

Amusing to observe, in a sad kind of way. If you think there are no “boomers” in Europe you are in for such a tragic awakening…

Well, they can’t raise it much more as they are attempting it (private corps & hitting the 1%). It is called the 1% for a reason – small numbers. They could raise the income tax to 60% on this group (from ~54% combined today) and they wouldn’t collect much more (if any) in revenue – those affected would work less, pull back elsewhere, hide it elsewhere if really rich, or just move.

Personal income tax is almost tapped out. They might try to squeeze the next tax bracket down (say $150K-$200K) and push them over the 50% combined, and it might bring in a few $B more – this level is less mobile and have less accountant money. But that won’t close his deficits.

Only way to raise the revenue to close the deficit gap is to increase the GST/HST. Won’t that be popular…

We all know that puppets don’t pick policy. It’s the puppet-pickers who do. So continuing to waste good insults on the eedjits chosen for their telegenics is futile. That being said; we should definitely pillary the puppet-pickers for picking this peck of posturing puppets pretending to be politicians. Petards ready!!!

I know you are hitting internally. These blog dogs just don’t get it. They are asking you to start a business when all you want to do is leave this loser country and live off the tax payers in another country who may be stupid enough to accept you.

I understand why you are mad at what’s happened in NZ with immigration being reduced. You no longer can go as an expert in sheep shearing.

Opening a business also requires money, brains, an idea and courage all of which are missing in your case.

So blog dogs: please let SCM focus on how he can leave this country. We will be rid of a whining loser and be better off as a country though it may not be enough to have him move to another blog. Only GT has that power.

BTW: we all also cannot wait for you to leave. F—I got embarrassing how long it’s taking you to go.

———————————

#53 SCM on 10.19.17 at 7:40 pm

This is f-ing embarrassing. Twice the cost of living, half the wages. Horrendous weather half the year. What a place to live. Can’t wait to leave.

Whipster
Hey flop……Here’s one for you… 5276 10a avenue Tsawwassen BC
Bought in 2016 (apr19) for 1.238 million
For sale now asking 1.290 million (on market 70 days as of today)
Nothing done to it as I can tell, maybe they did put money in who knows.

////////////////

Hey Whip2 ,thanks,logged and loaded.

We now just sit back and see what happens.

I appreciate it when someone helps me out because it helps bolster my numbers for a clearer picture.

The last time I checked I was tracking roughly 3% of the market ,could be less now with some added inventory.

This 3% might not sound like much but everyone of them has a similar decision to make ,no matter the price bracket.

These are not people who just have their house on the market for the sake of it,the bulk of them were caught speculating in a changing market.

A lot of my cases were bought during the Spring Fling of 2016 and could not get their number to make it worth their while or for a lot of them in the detached market,break even ,during Spring Fling 2017.

Spring melted in Summer and now buying that house has turned into a bummer.

Some of them will no doubt cut their losses before Xmas and some will get back on the bull for another 7 second rodeo next Spring.

Eventually they will get some sense knocked into them that things have changed,although sometimes you have to have a miners hat on and look in some dark places to connect the dots.

I can’t believe I’m so stupid. I needed $200 and the only bank machine was TD. I bank with Cibc so the withdrawal fee was $3 then Cibc charged an additional $2. So I paid 2.5% to access cash. I’ve made it a point over the years to never do that. It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve had to pay a fee to withdraw cash because I refuse to use a bank machine that isn’t Cibc.

One of the more annoying things to emerge from all this B20 talk is the ridiculous buying power reduction estimates by people that are clearly math challenged and/or sensationalists.

You have the Rate Spy guy at 18% (not 17% and not 19%, no, exactly 18%).

Then you have Math genius Realtors saying the maximum will be 25% – oxymoronic, non sequitur logic comment.

Or you have the brain trusts at Better Dwelling showing a big red Vancouver map of affordability (red = bad) based on Median income to carry mortgage payments & the average price of a home COMPLETELY ignoring the fact somebody or someone in YVR may have actually have a large amount in downpayment money to offset a lower income.

The impact on purchasing power is UNIQUE and ENTIRELY VARIABLE. The only thing FIXED, is the salary which can be offset by WEALTH in terms of a downpayment amount.

If you want to buy a big home, your GDS goes up since it is based on property taxes and heat expenses and thus, the mortgage amount is lowered unless you have a big butted downpayment.

If you like to spend other people’s money like crazy, as in borrowed on credit cards, auto loans, vanilla loans etc., or want a swanky condo with high monthly fees, well your TDS (incl. taxes and heat) will skyrocket and that means a lower mortgage amount unless you offset that with a large butted downpayment.

Then, the banks have different TDS and GDS thresholds. So at one bank you get a smaller mortgage amount and at another, a slightly higher mortgage amount with the same salary, downpayment and expense structure.

Boggles my mind how many people out there do not know how to calculate a mortgage and debt service loads, stick the math in something like Excel and make the calculations.

Once you do, you will conclude what I have, mortgage amount depends on the person’s finances/expenses AND THEIR IS NO AVG. NUMBER to capture this because of how much wealth some one has for a downpayment.

To add insult to accident, I can go here and show you that Cdns. have a lot of wealth for a downpayment, so much for reduced buying power, and that’s 2014 and NET:

All we can rely upon is historical fact, such as TransUnion did after the Oct. 2016 insured mortgage stress test. YVR numbers below, 1st Qtr 2016 vs. 1st Qtr 2017:

Mortgage amounts decreased by a small amount, 7% (note, not 18% or 25%).

The big hit came from fewer mortgages, 32%.

So enough with these 18%, 25% or whatever pronouncements.

They are garbage numbers to say the least, and, those that flaunt them, never state their assumptions (e.g., expenses).

And of course, the Math challenged, 10 sec. snippet of news says it all and/or those with ADD and mud puddle depth thinking, believe it all, hook, line and sinker which does nothing other than create hysteria and of course, more eyes on an article, thus, higher advertising revenues…expect for altruistic Garth and this Blog.

#54 After Communism on 10.19.17 at 7:40 pm
Morneau is getting some talented smacks by Garth. I like it.

Re: minimum wage and single payer:
Arbitrary rates are guesses, because nobody knows what an activity is worth, compared to another more difficult activity.

Arbitrary rates are risky, like when USSR and Venezuela and Rhodesia Liberals tried them; ie. communism national socialism=poverty and then tribalism and then conflict.

———————————

Seriously, who the hell brings up Rhodesia in the context of a minimum wage debate in Ontario? We’ve had a minimum wage since the 1930s and the doom and gloom that lunatics predict never comes to fruition. The Rhodesia Liberals were right wing conservatives btw.

According to the website Feminist Frequency, Canadian women in the preschool sector are paid on average 61.9% less than men, compared with a national gender pay gap of 40%.
******************************
I’m having trouble finding a second source that says male preschool workers get paid more than double…..
In fact I can’t find anything even remotely close to your numbers.

Using extremely exaggerated numbers doesn’t make your case stronger as it makes everyone doubt the rest of what you say.

Whenever a rage-inducing government announcement is rolled back, I often wonder if the initial announcement was cover – a distraction – to make a what would otherwise seem like an unpalatable choice more attractive.

Like starting a negotiation by stating “I’m pulling out of NAFTA!” when you actually have very little trouble with the deal, just so you can win concessions from your other (reluctant) partners.

Gutting small businesses raised a lot of ire, but with all these roll backs, where do we stand in the end? Who’s got the scorecard? What was proposed that hasn’t yet been rolled back?

Or was it all cover? Mainstream media catnip to divert attention from something else, like B20 (amazing how many don’t know it’s coming, or what it means) or how the CRA now has a precedent to compel condo developers to reveal who bought pre-sales, and for how much. Sure that information is private, and CRA will keep it private.

This is f-ing embarrassing. Twice the cost of living, half the wages. Horrendous weather half the year. What a place to live. Can’t wait to leave.

——-

Sorry to break it to you. Last I heard, you’re stuck here in our little backwater. I’ll bet you’ll be stuck here for a long time to come too. Only go getters pick up and get their asses moving. You, on the other hand, don’t give me that impression. You know, complaining about our great country of Canada (which I love for all the great opportunities it has provided me and many others) while living in it, makes you the joke. Not Canada.

Did you at least play the role of consumer and complete an act of consumption today to feed my dividends? They’re very hungry. You did? Carry on.

Instead of always finding something to complain about, could you at least try to gloat about something fantastic about your life specifically so that we can find something to envy about you. So far, you’re sounding a bit pathetic. There must be something good you’d like amaze us all with. You can’t be that empty of a shell who only knows how to regurgitate. Something? Anything? Anything at all?

I never thought I’d say this but I’m actually starting to feel sorry for Morneau. He’s clueless, yes, but does not have the entitled smugness of his boss. I think he’s just having trouble adjusting to politics within a government whose main objectives are job quotas based on peoples’ genitalia type, worship of climate religion, and propping up failing Quebec family businesses.

The Conservatives have a golden opportunity to brand the Liberals as the party of rich white guys protecting their trust funds. And it would be a more accurate portrayal than when the same “rich white guy” epithet was used against the Tories.

These aren’t “our” rules, they’re the law of the land. You’re free to start your business and apply these rules yourself. Just invent a fabulous work of software and sell like it all over the world like I am. It’s hard work and you’ll have to hire people to share the load from all the support requests due to high sales, but I’m sure you can manage.

@#52 SCM
“You boomers could learn a lesson about democracy from New Zealand. I did nearly forget how much Conservatives hate democracy when it doesn’t go their way.”
+++++

Ho hum .
New Zealand, ANOTHER in a world wide trend of minority govts. Nothing new there.
“Throw the bums out and vote int the people or party witht he least amount of dung clinging to their political past.
Which in most cases means…..young, inexperienced neophytes that promise everything, achieve nothing and are horrifeid when the voters trun on them like a pack of starving pigs…..

Conservative Elder anger?
nah we just hate it when our hard earned money is either taxed or frittered away on socialist drivel that attempts to legislate “equality”….
Eventually bankrupting everything, pleasing no one and earning the majority of voters ultimate disgust.

Dont gloat too loudly, inexperienced selfie king Trudeau is being eclipsed by the 30 something Austrian and 30 something Kiwi.
Who cares.
All will be one term wonders that will go down in flames because…….
Thats democracy.

I think Amazon picking Toronto is the black swan event that will propel RE prices in the city back to April 2017 levels. At that point it will be time to reassess whether it’s a double-top or the start of a new leg up.

The crash of 87, the dot com crash, the GFC of 08, the income trust fiasco…..is it any wonder that people prefer to invest in real estate and avoid the stock market ? Easy financing, low interest rates, tax free capital gains, and hey, ya gotta live somewhere…..no brainer.

After this backtracking by Trudeau, the tens of millions of salaried employees who have no benefits like income sprinkling, tax avoidance will dump him. Split among him and NDP basically guarantees a Con government next election.

Preserves the secret LIB-CON Alliance that shows itself as choice to the electorate. Note the cancellation of proportional rep.

Top-tier Canadian-born female managers earn, on average, 86.5% less than their male counterparts, with nearly $94,800 of that difference coming from additional remuneration, including bonuses.

Even sectors that have a predominantly female workforce such as preschool and early childhood education have a significant pay gap. According to the website Feminist Frequency, Canadian women in the preschool sector are paid on average 61.9% less than men, compared with a national gender pay gap of 40%.

————-

It’s people like you who make their cause hard to listen to. Why? Poor contextual information.

Example: When you refer to top-tier managers, are they all doing the exact same jobs? Are they all producing the same results? How many different levels of “top-tier” managers are there within the subset that you have vaguely described? What are the “additional bonuses” and “remuneration” based on? Are they across different industries? (There will be a higher concentration of women is certain industries than men. This point alone can impact the number greatly as not all industries have the same profit margins and pay structures) Can you prove that the particular managers who are not paid as much deserve the same pay based on their production?

You remind me of a woman I used to be married to :(
She went to a women’s studies course at the local university and told me that she was instructed that because she was female, she only had to have sex with me, her husband, when “she” felt like it.

I knew something was off, but didn’t know how to articulate it like I do now.
How about I only support you financially when I feel like it? (Which I was at the time) How about I only abstain from having sex with other women when I feel like it? How about I only behave in a respectful and kind manner when I feel like it?

You have taken a little information regarding women and men and made yourself into a female version of this blog’s “Freedom First.” He’s a male who blames women for all his relationship failings, just like you’re doing.
Why not come clean with us and tell us how crappy your love really is?

Bought Dow Chemical at 10:20am the day of the ’87 crash. Sold the next day around 9:45am and bought Gillette Corporation upon the sale of Dow Chemical. Was basically not all in but a heavy bet on HVI.TO about one week before the November election last year. Sold at the open election day after being down a fortune at 2:00am election day. Thought Hillary would win by a bigger landslide victory than Ronald Reagan. So I can take credit for the ’87 crash and Trump getting elected.

Ah Oh Umm. Do to unforseen consequence caused by climate change and our post national environment. Bro club needs to be dismantled. Bill has not had crocodile tears when ever a crisis was happening. We can only have feminized chaps in our cockass and Bill is showing too much manleyneess a pair of cowboy boots were found in his and for this he is graciously resigning.

Stephen Punwasi stated he was invited to speak at a CMHC event, which impressed me and his background sounds very interesting, see quotes below.

“Last week I was asked by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to speak at their Housing Finance Symposium. ”

“My background is in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and equities analysis. Basically, I used to build robots that analyze the stock market, then make intelligent trade decisions. Yes, the kind used by high-tech trading firms, and individuals with supervillain amounts of money.”

I have yet to get my head around this model, but when time permits I will reread the 4 articles in this mini-series they have prepared. I will say that the forecast for a 25% decline seems like it’s in the right order of magnitude. Personally I think the decline could be more in the order of a 1/3 decline, but that is really just based on how crazy high I think house prices are in the City today. Should be interesting to see what shakes out.

don’t forget about the other noise in the background
operation nimble archer
Friday, Oct. 16, 1987, Iran attacked, launching Silkworm missiles from the Al-Faw Peninsula that struck the Sea Isle City’s bridge and crew quarters
On Oct. 19, 1987, U.S. destroyers shelled two oil platforms during Operation Nimble Archer after an Iranian missile struck a Kuwaiti oil tanker three days earlier that had been part of a U.S. mission to escort civilian ships during a time of conflict.”

Oct19th 1987
program trading and portfolio insurance

It’s a parallel with 2008,” says Geisst. “There was new stuff being developed like stock index futures and the techniques of arbitraging between them and developing portfolio insurance — that stuff did not fall under regulation. That was the outer edge of regulation and nobody saw it and all of a sudden in causes an enormous problem”

I’ve noticed that SCM has a lot of ideas about how to run a business, pay employees, allocate capital, etc. It’s great to see someone so passionate. The obvious next step is for SCM to start a business, hire some employees, and keep contributing to the comments section as his knowledge of the subject deepens.

I also get the sense that, at the moment, SCM has contributed about as much on the subject as his current level of knowledge warrants. But I am very much looking forward to hearing his views develop with experience.

So T2 put a guy who specializes in helping the 1%ers avoid taxes in as his finance minister, then we were surprised when he tried to drum up some business for himself….we (collectively) elected a drama teacher as PM then wonder why he does nothing other than pose for selfies.

#23 . Now I understand why the Early Childhood Education classes are packed with men. Also explains all the guys working in daycare.
Why would a guy work construction if when the minimum wage goes to $15 he can make 61.9 % more than the girls or about $24 hourly and get to wear yoga pants.

About the revised thinking on tax reforms: Seems the democratic process has worked. Measures introduced are met with pushback and protest from the interested parties and after ‘consultation” (be it polite discourse or barn burning) the government has listened to the people and now proposes changes. Try and be happy about that but in a more humble sort of way.

About Morneau. The Jaguar’s observation is that none of us can claim to be perfect. He made a mistake. He got bad advice from someone who should have known better and now is being hung out to dry. The schadenfreude and glee over a mistake made by a guy who lets face it…”stepped up”for his country in an effort to pay it forward is getting annoying. People like Morneau, with his kind of money never need to put themselves under public abuse or glare. Think ‘Nigel Wright” if you need another reference. Stand up guys who have money and smarts and in no way need to offer themselves up only to be thrown under the bus. He ain’t and never was in it for the money folks. Some other clowns could be there while guys like those two just look after their own lives and don’t burn the midnight oil away from their family. Pretty sure Garth might be able to identify with those sentiments. How on earth do you ever expect us to encourage intelligent, well intentioned people to step up and serve their country if this is the way we treat them?
Regarding the cat. Pretty sure he landed on a soft comfy chaise lounge chair on the balcony below the one he momentarily thought he could reach.
He took a leap of faith. Shouldn’t we all from time to time? “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision”. –Winston Churchill.

The amortization change could mitigate the impact. Rob McLister, founder of ratspy.com says the crackdown is close to a wash if lenders use the loophole.

Assuming you’re making $60,000 a year, have no debt and 20 per cent down, based on a stress test of the contract rate plus 200 basis points, consumers now qualify for 18 per cent less loan, said McLister. But increasing amortization from 25 years to 30 qualifies you can buy roughly 10 per cent more house. Jumping from 25 to 35 amortization gets you to 18 per cent more house, he says.

“There would be higher interest rates for those products,” McLister noted. “We already see more risk-based pricing.”

The PM should consider being the finance minister after Bill is shuffled out, but only long enough to throw together one of those, “Balance it’s self Budgets”, then by God the old cheque book would be smoking again. Pitifully sad when the PM doesn’t understand the basics of business, similar to a 23 year old winning a 17 million dollar lottery. Lots of thoughtless spending.

#95 Newcomer on 10.19.17 at 8:59 pm
I’ve noticed that SCM has a lot of ideas about how to run a business, pay employees, allocate capital, etc. It’s great to see someone so passionate. The obvious next step is for SCM to start a business, hire some employees, and keep contributing to the comments section as his knowledge of the subject deepens

Apparently you just don’t get it. Whacking small businesses is a terrible idea. If there is fraud, the government has tools to go after it. If there are loopholes that unfairly advantage special interest groups or particular classes of business owners, address them without hammering small business owners who aren’t so lucky to take advantage of them.

Part of the problem is that the government makes decisions for political and budgetary impact. They don’t appear to be very good at evidence based decision making, modeling, etc.

Why would you assume that all conservatives like boondoggle spending projects like fighter jets? An awful lot of conservatives were outraged over the whole Irving Shipbuilding scandal.

New details from the Panama Papers show how a stream of foreign cash became a torrent flooding into New Zealand trusts in order to avoid tax offshore.

Documents obtained by the Australian Financial Review show:

A Mexican construction tycoon dubbed the ‘Duke of Influence’ joined a rush of foreign money into tax-free New Zealand trusts.
Juan Armando Hinojosa Cantu, who built his fortune from billions of dollars in Mexican government contracts, was investigated for lavish housing deals with Mexican political figures.
On July 1 last year, Cantu’s Miami lawyer said his client had “circa $US100 million” to put into three New Zealand trusts.
Maltese investors who had been turned away from nine banks in the Caribbean, Miami and Panama eventually found a home for their money in New Zealand trusts.
Demand for New Zealand trusts went into overdrive late last year with Mossack Fonseca staff in Panama urging New Zealand staff to “chase the money”.

===

The Report shot to international prominence after she stumbled onto the money-laundering scandal that has engulfed Malaysia and its 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign fund, and which threatens to bring down the Prime Minister, Najib Razak.

It also led to the US Department of Justice last year confiscating through civil court action more than $US1 billion of assets it alleges was siphoned illegally from 1MDB (from a total $US3.5 billion it says was laundered through the US, including $100 million used to finance The Wolf of Wall Street).

The sequestration included assets owned by New Zealand-based trusts.

==========

Dirty Politics continues the story that began in Hager’s best-selling book The Hollow Men, investigating the way that underhand and deceptive politics poisons the political environment for everyone. If you care about integrity and ethics in politics, then this book will be disturbing but essential reading.

Dirty Politics” (2014) revealed a secret campaign of social media attacks and smears coordinated from the prime minister’s office against its political opponents and also – on behalf of the tobacco, alcohol and sugary foods industries – against public health professionals.

Boy the mccains are doin ok too. Wonder if maybe cra should do a little digging to make sure they aren’t using ‘ loopholes’
Tip for the liberals… need money? look to the mccains and morneaus not hard working canadians.

I remember the day the market crashed in 87. I was a loyal reader of the business page of the Toronto sun.

I didn’t have shit in the markets but the wife was 8 months pregnant with kid number 2. I was communist rivit bucker back then and loved it, my shop stwert Jerry Dias of uaw112 was dancing. I grew up in the early 90s became an entrupenur never looked back. Now I have no money left CRA all over this trying to find a fiction forex offshore trading account.

It might be real. But it’s sort of in my favor, udge I’m living with my son and wife in la one bedroom apartment.

You can’t beat the rich. The rich trying to con the masses to hate another subset of the rich just doesn’t work well.

Governments need to pick on the common joe. Wage slaves complain but the rich don’t really listen to them unless they need the votes. But those are easy to get. Cuz if the common joe was smart they would be rich

Why is nobody talking about the guy that puts JT’s socks on every morning; Gerald Butts? I think he is the brains (for lack of a better word) behind the boy wonder. He has more influence on policy than you think!

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Wealthier and poorer euro zone countries must equalize their living standards if the single currency is to retain political support, the European Commission’s top economic official said.

This howmuch article has a dodgy title but hopefully someone will get something out of it…

M43BC

“Does Education Pay? If You’re White, It Does!

Over the past few years, individual wealth grew for all Americans. But that doesn’t mean everybody is on level ground. This graphic shows the net worth disparity between racial groups, both with and without a college education.”

@75. My examples are not about Black people. My THREE examples are countries that became poor because they turned to socialism and communism. Today’s Liberals have the same mind of those communist/socialists. History shows doom and gloom can happen when politicians become overconfident about their non-market price schemes.

Don’t twist my post to get me in trouble, SCM. You are out of control.

Well, what did Moroneau and Turdeau think was going to happen? Even Nutley is going to find out soon enough that good classroom dogma that sounds good in a latte shop doesn’t necessarily make good politics. I mean practically anything can be imagined if it doesn’t have to be tried in the real world. Kids really can be superman.

Even down south they are finding out you shouldn’t be talking about Russians if you’ve been taking their money!

#129 People are Strange on 10.19.17 at 10:00 pm
Why is nobody talking about the guy that puts JT’s socks on every morning; Gerald Butts? I think he is the brains (for lack of a better word) behind the boy wonder. He has more influence on policy than you think!
….
Newfie jokes sent him over the edge

#73 I’m stupid on 10.19.17 at 8:15 pm
I can’t believe I’m so stupid. I needed $200 and the only bank machine was TD. I bank with Cibc so the withdrawal fee was $3 then Cibc charged an additional $2. So I paid 2.5% to access cash. I’ve made it a point over the years to never do that. It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve had to pay a fee to withdraw cash because I refuse to use a bank machine that isn’t Cibc.
I know it was only $5 but it really irks me to get ripped off.
——————————————-
If our government cared about its citizens, they would do something about the bank fees but they don’t.
Instead, they’ll debate it and nothing will happen

@#129 People are Strange
“Why is nobody talking about the guy that puts JT’s socks on every morning; Gerald Butts? I think he is the brains (for lack of a better word) behind the boy wonder. He has more influence on policy than you think!”

+++++

Uh. Ya might want to read #41 rainclouds.
Then go back over the past few days of comments to see similar threads.
Gerald Butts “the most intelligent man in any room and dont you forget it!”

It is generally agreed that amazon is a progressive employer,offers better than average wages and benefits for similar work that would be the bulk of the jobs they will create once they choose a location, namely blue collar
shipping and receiving, order fulfillment etc.
So would you,if you where amazon even consider a location where the bulk of your future employees could likely not afford to rent let alone purchase accommodation?. of course not period.
such is Toronto’s weakness and likely strike out factor in there bid.

For those still bickering, instead of continuing with the animosity from this engineered class war about paying fair share of taxes vs not, remember that this is what these guys wanted – a dog fight.

Just think about the total lack of integrity and the extreme hypocrisy laid bare by the finance minister and T2. They pitted us against each other in a vicious fight while they were amongst the most prolific offenders of these bs proposals, and their populist solution left them unscathed.

To continue fighting about this now in light of the facts is pathetic. It would be far more constructive to be seeking equal treatment for all individuals – taxpayers and corporations alike, so that we have a truly fair system, and a level playing field for the competition between everyone.

Be thankful that these jerks were called to task and that they weren’t allowed to advance their attack on competence and hard work in Canada. And if you feel that is us ‘unfair’ that some people operate with professional corporations or family businesses, then buck-up and open a corporation yourself. Because NOBODY is stopping you…

October 1987 was a fabulous time in the history of financial manias. The Wall Street Journal was full of stories about Savings and Loan institutions in places like Vernon, Texas getting brokered Jumbo CDs fund sales from the Street, Mike Milliken and his junk bond empire collapsing and LBO’s backfiring. “High speed trading” involved XT computers and people talking about Elliott Wave Theory. The S&P slid over 500 points in one very shortened trading day. Ahhh the memories!
One can debate the merits of Bill Morneau becoming an advocate of tax fairness, but the optics make it look very insincere. Someone who forgets about owning a French chateau has a real credibility problem.

Question – why has Mr. Morneau not been fired for cause or hauled off to jail? Surely by breaking the rules – laws? – regarding his assets he should be subject to something more than ‘bad boy!’ from his leader? For instance, as a municipal employee I could not even accept a box of chocolates at Christmas from a customer as that would have been broached the ethics rules. Any such ‘gifts’ had to be handed over to be returned with a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to whoever had presented the gift. Mind, that was for the employees – the elected officials could receive gifts, but had to declare anything over a certain dollar value. Bottom line for the union staff, if it were discovered you did not hand over any such gift you were at best given a stern warning with a note placed on your file regarding the incident. At worst, you could be fired for cause. Management staff were terminated immediately if found to have broken the rules. No second chances. My point is, Mr. Morneau had to have known he was breaking the rules, so why is he still around? Surely a letter of resignation doesn’t take this long to write…..

#23 Toronto is for Winners on 10.19.17 at 6:59 pm
“Top-tier Canadian-born female managers earn, on average, 86.5% less than their male counterparts, with nearly $94,800 of that difference coming from additional remuneration, including bonuses.

Even sectors that have a predominantly female workforce such as preschool and early childhood education have a significant pay gap. According to the website Feminist Frequency, Canadian women in the preschool sector are paid on average 61.9% less than men, compared with a national gender pay gap of 40%.”

Geez, I didn’t realize the chicks at that website are so bad at math. “86.5% less than men” means that if a male manager makes $300,000, the female counterpart makes $40,500. That doesn’t seem right.

I’m highly doubtful that preschool teachers, working the same number of hours and doing the same job, have such a large gap. For the guy making $70,000, the gal is making $26,670 per annum. Hmmm… doubtful.

I’ve heard the overall gender gap plenty of times, and it’s been improving over the past few years. Last time I checked, it was around 80% of mens’ aggregate wages (i.e. doesn’t take into account different types of jobs, or tenure at jobs). But this website you cite is saying that women make $60 per mens’ $100. That’s the first time I have heard it that low. It’s most likely wrong… perhaps you need a new source of data that isn’t completely biased.

Re. Captain obvious…..you are not alone, I also skip over SCM posts including any responses to him. That didn’t leave much content tonight. Surprising how one poster can disrupt shit so quickly.As for SM I really don’t get him, I’m not interested in his video posts at all and if he is a smart dude it would be nice to see some posts that reflect that. I’m sure he’s capable of that.

The government announces an apparently dumb policy change proposal and after the consultation period they decide some of it is too draconian and political suicide so they scrap some of it. Am I mistaken or isn’t that precisely what the sitting government is supposed to
do? Isn’t that actually the appropriate process rather than the way the previous elitists did things in secret?

Tax changes of this magnitude, affecting so many, are not done in secret. — Garth

The irony is that the cry baby who is supposed to have more wit, humor and less anger than the business owners is the one who rants around like a spoilt child, has his posts deleted frequently and banned a couple of times begging each time another business owner (GT) to be let back in.

I concur on the Trigger club :-)

——————————–

#111 SCM Trigger Club on 10.19.17 at 9:14 pm
SCM has a Triggered Club, with a nicely growing membership.

S/he has a gift to trigger, no doubt, but what’s truly remarkable is that how irritated those club members can become.

Yes, Justin and Billy really missed the mark on their ill-conceived tax tinkering, but the important point to remember here is that they actually did listen and back down. That’s what a government is supposed to do – listen to it’s people – unlike the power-crazed Harper government that didn’t give two hoots about the Canadian masses.

Instead of Yoga Studios, a simple fix would be to prevent Docs from incorporating so as to pay the small business tax when they are really quasi-government employees with guaranteed incomes (no bad debts as they are paid by tax payers; no questions asked) and also allowed to pay the small business tax rate by incorporating.

Funny, I seem to recall the same “triple delete” issues occurring out here in BC when Ms Miller was employed here.
Its a shame only the Ontario Prosecutors office seems to be willing to do its job……unlike the govt lickspittles out here in BC.
But I guess thats what happens when another Christy Clark aide was married to the lead RCMP investigator…

Looks like its started already, don’t say I didn’t tell everyone about 30 year Government of Canada bonds. Canadian retail sales tank in August. I told Ian H about where interest rates are headed and told him the top was in about 2 weeks ago. Looks like the 4.89 percent OSFI rate will soon be the only one in play.

— Not a joke at all. Look, I agree with a lot of what you say about living cheap, living in a way which gives less tax to the government — when you deny there is a problem and dismiss hard evidence of the problem you present yourself a non-evidence-based person. In order words, a [word which for reasons of politeness and Garth’s blog policies].

Your response shows you are a person undeserving of any considered response.
__________________________________

Mr. Head, I’m sure with a little logical thought you can see that you have not presented any empirical evidence at all.

Suppose I said “I worked for a large company and all the Women made the same as me, and got paid at the same time, and earned the same benefits exactly the same as Men.”

Would you accept the above as empirical proof of Women being treated equally in Canada?

Nope, you wouldn’t. Neither would any of the Feminists here on the blog. In fact I’d be laughed out of town trying to slide a personal anecdote across the table as any kind of mainstream fact.

Have not read the comments yet, but my wife and I had tears in our eyes watching the cat gif today! I am sure it had a backup plan. Priceless.

In 1987 I just started working full time. No equity but some gifted Canada Savings Bonds that have been turned into today’s pile. I remember the bosses teasing each other -one was into Mutual Funds big time the other more cautious with Gic’s at the time.

Diversity may be the overplayed buzzword by our current government in power, but hey, as GT preaches, it has paid dividends to be ‘diversified’ while investing throughout the years.

Don’t really get the love for the Hip. Their music is fine, just don’t get the love though. More of a Blue Rodeo fan. And Tom Petty.

The backing off of the war on small corps was mostly due to the opposing rich general just happening to “forget” that he owns a French villa. Plus the disclosure that he reaps $150k/month from the company that bears his name, made the war seem so hypocritical. With the media now continually referring to the warmonger as “our multi-millionaire finance minister,” the fabricated moral high ground has been shredded into rice paper and blown away with the wind. Credibility problem? Champion of the middle class? What credibility problem?

I ran into Gerald the other day and asked him about the optics of working so closely with Morneau Shepell and he said, “Well, it wasn’t a problem in Ontario, but then again the Executive Chair wasn’t our Minister.”

The great power we have is that we can withhold our labour. Most times this isn’t an intentional or a coordinated response. It is individuals responding to very high taxes, deciding to turn down overtime, take a few weeks more of vacation.. decide its not worth their effort to start an enterprise they had in mind, retiring to a lower tax location, etc.
___________________________

Exquisitely on point! That’s exactly how it goes, one at a time, every now and then. Folks making little adjustments and re-gauging their prospects with every new development.

I’ve taken it further consciously making an effort to cut back, but everything you mentioned definitely carries on in the background among pretty much everyone.

When I go to the Ontario PC policy convention in November, I’ll be sure to put SCM’s name foreward as a main person to be included in the universal basic income pilot, so we do not see him living in a park one day on the way to work. I thought you guys were going to ignore him? What happened?

This whole Morneau thing…I find it VERY bizarre that this is being portrayed as his baby and he’s now the fall guy. Where is Butts & Hearts? Surely he was concocting this nonsense in a back room and said “guys! I have a perfect platform for you!”

I LOVE what’s happening to Morneau. I bet this last two months is the first time in his life he’s gotten treated as he should have been treated his whole life. No doubt used to dinners at North 44 and having everyone kiss his arse his whole life. Looks fantastic on him!

#224 Renter’s Revenge! on 10.19.17 at 3:25 pm
#173 Dissident on 10.19.17 at 10:34 am
The reason men have an issue with “feminism” and “feminists”…

No, the reasons why men have issues with feminists are that:
a) they act as if they are experts on how men think and feel, when they’re not even men
b) they make blanket assumptions and accusations about men, when most men are good people
c) instead of just trying to bring women up in society, they actively try to drag men down
d) they creep into positions in the media, and then actively portray men as buffoons in commercials, tv, movies
e) they make women feel bad about wanting to get married and have kids early in life (where do you think the next generation of people is going to come from?)
f) they blame “the patriarchy” for all their problems, instead of asking how they can help themselves
g) they make up sayings like, “the woman is always right” and “happy wife, happy life” and expect men to just sit back and take it
h) they demand respect, even when they don’t do anything to earn it
i) they cut their hair short

_______________________________________

Excellent list, and right on the money. I’m too old to have had to deal with todays violent 3rd wave feminists, but I can see clearly enough to understand the trend of Western Males hooking up with non-Western born Women.

“I remember Oct19th 1987 very well indeed.
I was working in an office building at Pender and Howe and C.M. Oliver Investments had the bottom two floors of 750 West Pender.
The floors were full of yelling and screaming traders until about 1pm……then they all swarmed over to the Jolly Taxpayer pub to drown their losses in a sea of booze.
Wasnt a pretty picture
The next day no one showed up for work at C.M. Oliver……no one.”

I was a Board Marker at the old Vancouver Stock Exchange at that time. Half the stocks didn’t have a bid on them. One trader had me go around and put a 5 cents bid on most of the stocks. It was a crazy day.

#12 Dmitry on 10.19.17 at 6:51 pm
Everybody should have equal right to receive income and pay associated taxes. If a person chooses to do that by not working that is their decision to make. Asking people to prove that they are entitled to income because they earned it on some “reasonable” basis is a gross intrision into people’s lives. Somehow nobody cares to call out the government on that. Are we really that used to ever increasing interference in private matters by the growing armies of bureaucrats that we don’t even notice when the next offense happens? Everybody is focused on the “sprinkler” in this story but what about “spriklee’s” rights?
=====================================
We clearly live in a Police state.
I have a good friend who escaped the Iron Curtain from Czechoslovakia to Austria and spent 2 years in a refugee camp before coming to Canada.
His take is that we are less free here today than he was in the Iron Curtain days.
We have computers, the ultimate long memory machine. We also have bureaucrats who are willing to use that power for no good.
The Herd is weak and tired of fighting the machine. We have our lives to live and not much time to write letters like this one.
Our freedom is really and truly gone and is only allowed at the behest of our benevolent dictators… until they become un-benevolent.

#193 NEVER GIVE UP on 10.20.17 at 10:07 am
#12 Dmitry on 10.19.17 at 6:51 pm
====================================
We clearly live in a Police state.
I have a good friend who escaped the Iron Curtain from Czechoslovakia to Austria and spent 2 years in a refugee camp before coming to Canada.
His take is that we are less free here today than he was in the Iron Curtain days.
We have computers, the ultimate long memory machine. We also have bureaucrats who are willing to use that power for no good.
The Herd is weak and tired of fighting the machine. We have our lives to live and not much time to write letters like this one.
Our freedom is really and truly gone and is only allowed at the behest of our benevolent dictators… until they become un-benevolent

============================

Yep, we have the freedom to be credit slaves to the banks.

Owned by the banks, the oligopolies, the municipal, provincial, federal government. Everyone wants their dues.
A lot of responsibilities and very little freedoms.

BTW your friend behind the Iron Curtain:
1. Practically had the right to own a home, guaranteed.
2. Could graduate from university (any specialty if smart enough to take the exam) without having any money or loans, with help from the government (still true in most of Europe).
3. Had guaranteed job and guaranteed retirement.
4. Had guaranteed access to very decent health care.

GTA compared to Prague is like a 3rd world county village compared to an European Capital.

#52 SCM on 10.19.17 at 7:37 pm
In regards to the New Zealand election. Did anyone notice how 2 parties (Labour and NZ First) are forming a coalition (with a 3rd party backing) and forming government. The ruling Conservatives (National party) are stepping down. This is called Westminster Parliamentary democracy. Most boomers and conservatives are not at all familiar with this.

Any of you boomers recall what the evil robot tyrant from Alberta with a chip on his shoulder did when multiple parties with more seats than him tried to form government?

You boomers could learn a lesson about democracy from New Zealand. I did nearly forget how much Conservatives hate democracy when it doesn’t go their way.
______________________

Good Grief Woman.

Please head to your nearest LCBO and remedy your miserable condition before you jump off a bridge.

Still don’t trust these “vehicles for the middle class” type tax shelter arrangements set up by governments to help middle class folks with their tax burden.

The only reason why this latest assault on the middle class (which was just a huge tax grab disguised as a “public good” announcement) went down in flames is that the person who was supposed to put it into place turned out to have some integrity issues.

Normally, the middle class is basically soaked for everything they have, by the upper and lower classes. You can’t touch the 1% because their children run our governments. You can’t touch the underclasses because they haven’t got anything and rely on government handouts for survival. So they usually soak the hard working middle class, who are too busy surviving at a level that is above poverty, to actually fight back. They are the easy target.

The way I see it, it will always be better to arrange your income earning in a manner that is as much as possible, the manner in which the 1% earn their income. The 1% will never tax themselves. These people are born rich and practice it all their lives. They view poverty as how you would view a violent death. They will do anything to preserve their status as above everyone else. That includes ensuring that their children run our governments.

My way of thinking is this particular enterprise, which currently produces 3 vehicles per day on its mass production line (industry benchmark is 1 vehicle per minute) will be bankrupt by December.

What in the world is wrong with this options chain? There is something here I am not seeing obviously and someone needs to point it out to me. Because once again this looks to me like a blistering, screaming short and no one other than me seems to see this.

#89 Howard on 10.19.17 at 8:33 pm
Trying to figure out how that cat misjudged that leap so badly. Seems like the hind paws slipped a bit on the window ledge so the cat didn’t get the necessary spring in the jump.
//////

#181 IHCTD9 on 10.20.17 at 9:29 am
#242 Hairhead on 10.19.17 at 5:08 pm
#236 – That was a joke, right?

Mr. Head, I’m sure with a little logical thought you can see that you have not presented any empirical evidence at all.

Suppose I said “I worked for a large company and all the Women made the same as me, and got paid at the same time, and earned the same benefits exactly the same as Men.”

Would you accept the above as empirical proof of Women being treated equally in Canada?

Nope, you wouldn’t. Neither would any of the Feminists here on the blog. In fact I’d be laughed out of town trying to slide a personal anecdote across the table as any kind of mainstream fact.
————————————-
Thank you for pointing out the obvious flaw in the argument he was making yesterday. I have no doubt he truly believes what he believes but common reasoning skills says otherwise.

Just out of curiosity, if the stress test issue is going to kill the RE market, why are bank shares on a tear this past week? RBC alone is up about 2$ and over %2 in the last 5 days and they all seem to be setting new 100 day values efery day.

Because mortgage portfolio risk will likely decrease, and the banks are still money machines. B20 is what the bankers wanted. — Garth

Tax changes of this magnitude, affecting so many, are not done in secret. — Garth

Well, maybe they shouldn’t be but they regularly are. The TFSA wasn’t created after long consultation was it? Was cynical doubling of the TFSA contribution limit introduced after long consideration? The TFSA impacts every single Canadian doesn’t it? The CRA arbitrailly changes taxation rules for trusts in 1999 without long consultation process and that little change dramatically changed the tax payable on dividends held within a trust.

And last but not least, the CRA replaced tax deduction with non refundable tax credits in the 80s without a long consultation period.

Because mortgage portfolio risk will likely decrease, and the banks are still money machines. B20 is what the bankers wanted. — Garth
————————————-
The banks are parasites that only exist due to courtesy and protection of corrupted politicians (with a license to rob).

Just coming out of 35 min waiting on one of their call centres, listening every 30 seconds to replay how my call is important to them. Then a schmuck hung on me just when connecting before I could say anything.

#192 Vanrentor on 10.20.17 at 10:04 am
“I remember Oct19th 1987 very well indeed.
I was working in an office building at Pender and Howe and C.M. Oliver Investments had the bottom two floors of 750 West Pender.
The floors were full of yelling and screaming traders until about 1pm……then they all swarmed over to the Jolly Taxpayer pub to drown their losses in a sea of booze.
Wasnt a pretty picture
The next day no one showed up for work at C.M. Oliver……no one.”
———–
Oh, the Jolly Taxpayer.
Good memories.
Long gone.
Victim of Condo disease.

#163 Karma on 10.20.17 at 2:21 am
#23 Toronto is for Winners on 10.19.17 at 6:59 pm
“Top-tier Canadian-born female managers earn, on average, 86.5% less than their male counterparts, with nearly $94,800 of that difference coming from additional remuneration, including bonuses.

Even sectors that have a predominantly female workforce such as preschool and early childhood education have a significant pay gap. According to the website Feminist Frequency, Canadian women in the preschool sector are paid on average 61.9% less than men, compared with a national gender pay gap of 40%.”

Geez, I didn’t realize the chicks at that website are so bad at math. “86.5% less than men” means that if a male manager makes $300,000, the female counterpart makes $40,500. That doesn’t seem right.

I’m highly doubtful that preschool teachers, working the same number of hours and doing the same job, have such a large gap. For the guy making $70,000, the gal is making $26,670 per annum. Hmmm… doubtful.

I’ve heard the overall gender gap plenty of times, and it’s been improving over the past few years. Last time I checked, it was around 80% of mens’ aggregate wages (i.e. doesn’t take into account different types of jobs, or tenure at jobs). But this website you cite is saying that women make $60 per mens’ $100. That’s the first time I have heard it that low. It’s most likely wrong… perhaps you need a new source of data that isn’t completely biased.

__________________________________________

Yep, it’s why the Women’s Lib’ers spend more time lobbying the government than trying to “change attitudes”. No one believes half the tripe they assert – and the other half is increasingly grade A horse$h!t.

The drooling blockheads at Feminist Frequency expect me to believe that if my current Male manager was replaced by a Female, that her pay would drop to about $9,500.00/ year because she’s not a Man?

Yeah, I’m buying that one…

Maybe these Feminists should start complaining that they were barred from Math class because they were Women. There’s some good actual evidence for that case.

Frankly, I’m amazed at the staggering growth between 1983 and 2000. No wonder Boomers with investments are doing well. They had their money in during one of the largest and longest bull markets in history. Ever since 2001 (9/11), the stock market has been wobbling, then the 2008 crash, and then 2015 oil dive. I guess that’s why Millennials feel like they’re on shaky ground.

Also, further to, for Boomers, growing up during the oil crisis years, which shows the Dow Jones flat (1966-1983), that’s what caused them to become so frugal (my parents) and then they translated that frugality into the longest running bull market in history 1983-2000.

If you think about it, Millennials could be the next Boomers, if the market rockets upward again for another 17 years. Who knows.

Hell, any opposition of any kind to the feminist bricklayers is likely outright violent hatred of all living and dead Women. Every Woman the Universe has ever produced. Also those who disagree hate all Women who have yet to be born like crazy.

I’m talking foaming at the mouth hate because we disagree. You know like when your pal wants to go for a Big Mac, but you tell him Whoppers are better? BUT THEN HE STILL LIKES BIG MACS?! Yeah, that’s right – crazy berserk hate like you can’t even imagine due to differing opinion.

#111 SCM Trigger Club on 10.19.17 at 9:14 pm
SCM has a Triggered Club, with a nicely growing membership.

S/he has a gift to trigger, no doubt, but what’s truly remarkable is that how irritated those club members can become.

Supposedly business owners show strange inflexibility shrugging off opposing views, which actually really don’t matter, wouldn’t affect directly their enterprise.
They don’t have half the wit, sense of humor, just the raw anger.

It’s quite entertaining watching the jester making the court roar.

—————————-

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes…and someone saying something stupid on the Internet. Which is why I’m more bewildered by some people’s reactions to SCM than what SCM says. They’re SO triggered. As this blog’s popularity grows, it attracts different kinds of people (because, you know, Internet…), and some simply can’t or won’t brush off the comments that trigger them.

Of course, they’re free to address those comments, and sometimes I read the responses hoping to learn from them, but these added tidbits don’t really help with credibility (I believe I’ve seen all these lately):

Something about SCM living in mom’s basement
Something about SCM being a loser or not having a job/life
Something about SCM having an abusive mom/dad/past
Something about SCM needing medication
Something about SCM being slow/stupid/some other term that suggests his or her mental faculties are not all there
Something about SCM being a prick/ass/asshole/some other body part term with a bad connotation

Tons of people are smarter than I, which is why I’m here. I hope to gain useful stuff from Garth and from the comments. But I don’t find value in “contributions” that basically resort to insults, name calling, and words specifically meant to get a rise out of people. But, again, Internet. It’s inevitable, so I just absorb whatever’s useful and ignore everything else (or at least try to—it can be difficult, right?).

Anonymity in the Internet can be great for speaking your mind, but don’t let it compromise your character.

When you go all in, in a gamble to help fellow Canadians
There is a price to pay.
Never look into the rear view. My friends ditched me, they all have mortgages. Not me.
The real deal in a fiction novel that no one bought.
It’s a wonderful world.
…………………………………………………………………
You had friends? Who the hell would be your friend? According to your previous posts of past you told us your a loner with no friends. So what is it Smoky?

Regarding Morneau’s tweaks…Does anyone know if ***capital gains*** realized on passive investments within a corporation also benefit from this new $50,000 threshold or is it just passive interest/dividend income?

For example, if my business buys RBC bank shares, sells them and makes a $10,000 profit, does this under $50,000 threshold come into play, so that the corp gets the same treatment it used to get (1/2 tax free dividend)

Income is income, whether in interest, dividends or capital gains. — Garth

Today the Rate Spy CEO recommends people to hurry to get a HELOC or mortgage:

> What to Do
If you need a mortgage or HELOC in the next 120 days and you expect your debt ratios to be high, apply ASAP. You don’t want to lose lender options as banks start announcing they’re implementing the stress test ahead of time.

#89 Howard on 10.19.17 at 8:33 pm
Trying to figure out how that cat misjudged that leap so badly. Seems like the hind paws slipped a bit on the window ledge so the cat didn’t get the necessary spring in the jump.
//////

that cat is/was nearsighted
………………………………………………………………
It was Cat suicide, he lost his meow-mix stocks.

#89 Howard on 10.19.17 at 8:33 pm
Trying to figure out how that cat misjudged that leap so badly. Seems like the hind paws slipped a bit on the window ledge so the cat didn’t get the necessary spring in the jump.
//////

that cat is/was nearsighted

********************************

Showed my wife the video clip – she figures the holder of the camera scared the cat at the last second. Or it was a lazy house cat who simply misjudge but landed on a cushy deck chair below….right!

Too bad Canada does not have the balls to call Mr. Morneau in-front of a Mueller type investigation. But then again Morneau just hid his assets and doesn’t have loans up the wazoo from Russians, unlike everyone in the Trump household. Nobody in the USA will lend Trump or Kushner cash. It is a well known fact.

Hey Garth, Love your blog (yada yada). Could you include the concept of tax integration in one of your upcoming blogs? I still see so many people who believe that if a small business pays a total fed and prov tax at say 15%, that they don’t pay anything else in taxes. Meanwhile they pay additional taxes as they take money out of the business in the form of salary or dividends, and integration is intended to make individuals indifferent as to how they pay themselves. I imagine the recent announcement of small business tax reductions, combined with the Liberal increases in personal taxes over a certain amount may change that indifference, but the concept still stands. Would love you to educate the masses (and me) on the concept and how it currently stands in Canada given recent and proposed tax changes. Thanks Garth!

The current definition is ‘hatred’ of women, not ‘dislike.’ In any case, it seems the posters take issue with feminism, not femaleness. — Garth
——————
When catering to PC, it always comes to this:
Hairsplitting.

Who cares about interest rates – retail sales unexpectedly down. Nope not unexpected – people are tapped out. And winter is bringing expensive heating costs. Seems are doom and gloom but it is just reality – the new normal.

Take off the rose coloured glasses folks the lean times are back. More jobs losses (not happy about it). Such are the cycles. And the NAFTA uncertainty is also factor as businesses are holding their breath.

Legalization of marijuana threatens to disrupt the under ground mom and pop growers. Whatever you think about pot – it will have an effect on local economies. Not all pot growers are gang related.

I have been scanning all the news articles worldwide. Lots of men in high positions being let go due to sexual harassment. It seems the flood gates have opened to some degree. Does Trump have info on them and is slowly taking his opposition down…is it wikileaks, anonymous or is it that society has had enough?

Then I heard that 49% of men surveyed would rather have sex with a robot instead of taking a bath and searching for a mate.

#190 IHCTD9 on 10.20.17 at 9:54 am
#224 Renter’s Revenge! on 10.19.17 at 3:25 pm
#173 Dissident on 10.19.17 at 10:34 am
The reason men have an issue with “feminism” and “feminists”…

No, the reasons why men have issues with feminists are that:
a) they act as if they are experts on how men think and feel, when they’re not even men
b) they make blanket assumptions and accusations about men, when most men are good people
c) instead of just trying to bring women up in society, they actively try to drag men down
d) they creep into positions in the media, and then actively portray men as buffoons in commercials, tv, movies
e) they make women feel bad about wanting to get married and have kids early in life (where do you think the next generation of people is going to come from?)
f) they blame “the patriarchy” for all their problems, instead of asking how they can help themselves
g) they make up sayings like, “the woman is always right” and “happy wife, happy life” and expect men to just sit back and take it
h) they demand respect, even when they don’t do anything to earn it
i) they cut their hair short

_______________________________________

Excellent list, and right on the money. I’m too old to have had to deal with todays violent 3rd wave feminists, but I can see clearly enough to understand the trend of Western Males hooking up with non-Western born Women.

Makes more and more sense every day.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Are you kidding me? Do you even KNOW any women? That is not what ‘feminism’ means. Sorry. You have very little understanding.

a) hypocritical, since YOU claim to know how women and feminists think, and all your assumptions are blatantly wrong.
b) sure, *most* men are good, law-abiding people who don’t sexually harass or assault women, but there ARE the exceptions, and basically every woman out there HAS encountered those very exceptions, from being lured into a van at 16, to being assaulted on first dates, or harassed/assaulted on the subway, to being molested by a step-father, or being told she didn’t get the promotion cause she doesn’t have the same ‘sparkle’ as Judith (translation: he finds Judith more attractive) – how do you explain that away? This is only part of why women need to stand up for themselves. Add to that list, being groped by your male boss and HR looks the other way cause he’s a powerful dude, etc etc etc Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, etc etc.
c) nobody’s dragging men down. women are just trying to keep their head above water and assert themselves in society, the same way men do.
d) Gian Ghomeshi crept into media and then became a creep who preyed on gullible and impressionable women and used S&M as an excuse for enacting violence against women, a sick, sociopath – need I say more. Fox recently fired Bill O’Reilly for being a sick f*k.
e) feminists are not discouraging women from reproducing. feminism means having a choice to do whatever you want as a woman, be it having kids or not. feminism means you have that choice to live your life as you wish, be it subscribing to the status quo or not.
f) sometimes when you try to help yourself, you are still denied by patriarchal structures in place. the glass cieling still exists, sexism still exists, otherwise, you would not be posting such garbage.
g) huh?
h) excuse me? women “Demand respect without doing anything to earn it” – ??? Women are people and all people should be respected. Nobody should have to ‘work’ to be respected. Respect for people is a given, regardless of their orientation, age, skin colour, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc. This is perhaps your most telling line of how messed up your brain is.
i) this is not even worth dignifying.

Flop…. check this…. 5255 4 ave delta bc
Bought June 25 2016 for 1.175mill
Sold sept 28,2017 for 1.153mill; assessed at 1.264
Still too rich for my blood but speaks to declines in any profits….considering fees paid I assume you would consider this a confirmed case? I can only see things getting cheaper in the long run. Wishful thinking maybe lol
I may just add this into fridays post to make sure you see it….

#190 IHCTD9 on 10.20.17 at 9:54 am
Excellent list, and right on the money. I’m too old to have had to deal with todays violent 3rd wave feminists, but I can see clearly enough to understand the trend of Western Males hooking up with non-Western born Women.

Makes more and more sense every day.

===========================

Thanks for the feedback. My list was a little tongue-in-cheek, but mostly serious, because I know most feminists (and pretty much all women are feminists now) don’t do those things. Most women I know are fantastic people with their own sort of feminine energy that make the world a better place to work and live in. The real problem is the small percentage of them that are violent who take up all the bandwidth on the internet, pissing men off, and ruining feminism for the women they claim to support. I enjoy calling them out on their ridiculousness, and forcing them to argue logically for what they want.

I agree with you on the non-Western women, though. There are a lot beautiful women from China, India, Iran and lots of other places, immigrating here, and they all have great personalities and work ethic. They really put some Canadian women to shame and are going to give them a real run for their money. It makes me appreciate immigration more and more each day :)

Every time a man says it’s cool to be dude,lefty chicks always tose out the Misogyny word. Sorry but not all men are little unicorns like out crying PM

I’m a proud boy and proud of my male privilege. I have no guilt. Economic Nationalism is required now to take on cultural Marxism before that turns into full on Marxism

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

This is going to blow your collective minds, but I like dudes. What I don’t like is when those dudes use their male privilege to get a one-up on women, exclude, sabotage or put women down in any way, or God forbid, victimize women in any way. Like, you don’t need to do that. Just be a decent human being. Resist the urge to be a jack*ss.

Interesting comments on the male/female misogyny issues. I tend to have a slightly different view.

You really cannot, in my opinion, even begin to understand the depth to which the identity of the North American female person has been compromised by the ridiculous and out of control focus on male sexuality and sexual desires, both in mainstream media, in Hollywood movies and in our consumer culture in general.

Every so often you get a glimpse of it. Signs of the situation include comments to the effect that a female person should be careful what clothing (or lack thereof) she wears, so as not to excite male sexual desire (and if she dresses “provocatively” – not my word, I hate that word, but used as an example – she “invites” unwanted male sexual attention to herself).

Comments on successful females, which always begin and end with comments about how they look, how they dress, their family lives (or lack thereof) and their physical appearances in general. Contrast this to comments on successful males and the difference is striking: can you imagine a successful male CEO being described as hot, attractive, sexually inviting, dressing well, being a good family caregiver, knowing how to cook, etc as the main comments on this person? That is how it is usually done with females.

The “rape myth” – ie, a female who experiences an unwanted sexual attack by a male, “asked for it” by dressing a certain way, giving off certain “signals”, by kissing someone, by being in a certain place at a certain time, etc. Basically justification for not discussing sexual intercourse with your intended target, because you can “assume” that she consents, without actually asking her.

I want to do a documentary on this some time. It is brutal and unbelievable when you look into it. It turns every female into basically an object of male sexual desire, with no other purpose. No identity. No individual experience as a person.

And of course, try to explain that a female has her own sexual desire and you get the “Basic Instinct” factor in response. Female sexual desire is something that either does not exist at all, or is such an unpleasant thing that it cannot be discussed in polite society (all the while discussing how sexually attractive a female is to males).

Like I said, it is pretty bad. There are some enlightened societies in which males and females are treated equally. North America is not one of those places. We are slightly better than some Middle Eastern places where women are required to wear full body covering and only go outside when accompanied by a male relative.

#204 Sam @ LifeOnCredit.ca on 10.20.17 at 10:55 am
It looks less likely now than ever that the liberals will survive the next federal election. Tax and spend only work until you run out of other people’s money.
______________________________________

I’m not ready to make that call yet #becausecanadians, but you may well be correct.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes…and someone saying something stupid on the Internet. Which is why I’m more bewildered by some people’s reactions to SCM than what SCM says. They’re SO triggered. As this blog’s popularity grows, it attracts different kinds of people (because, you know, Internet…), and some simply can’t or won’t brush off the comments that trigger them.
——————————
Agreed, if your point is that the GF community should ignore trolls. But unless you admit that SCM is a troll (initial problem) and makes comments with the intent to trigger others (consequence), there can be no taking the “higher ground”.

“Because mortgage portfolio risk will likely decrease, and the banks are still money machines. B20 is what the bankers wanted. — Garth”

OK, I won’t argue with you. You are farrrr more knowledgeable than I on this but why since B20 has been public knowledge for some time, has this been built into the market before last week?

And if the banks truly wanted this B20 which is an underwriting rule, why wouldn’t they have already built it in to their own underwriting proceedures? I don’t recall there being a federal obligatin to underwrite any new mortgage.

On the other hand, B20 will not by itself improve mortgage revenues, it will certainly hamstring banks from attracting new mortgafe clients and that WILL have a significant negative imoact on future mortgage porfolio earnings. All this while you yourself commented not long ago that mortgage delinquency in Canada isn’t a major issue.

But seriously, the reason the jump failed is not because the cat is ‘curvy’ and a bbc as other posters have alluded, but because it underestimated the slipperiness of the launch surface.
Just as T2 and Moronu are underestimating the fickleness of the liberal voting bloc.

First, there are 1000s of condos for sale in the city (already built and pre-sale), this area is good but not lively, there are lots of other areas with more shops, entertainment and restaurants for people spending that amount of money on a condo (unless they were planning to sell to another investor who planned to keep it empty and don’t care about the area as long as the property goes up in value).

Second, the maintenance fees are high. Once they go north of $500 in the city, they start to scare buyers.

Third, the last condo that sold in the building complex, with similar dimensions (1+1) sold for less than their price and had better views e.g. more rooms that get natural sunlight.

Last, OSFI B-20 isn’t scaring buyers into buying a place before the new rules come into place, like the 2016 stress test did.

Thanks for the feedback. My list was a little tongue-in-cheek, but mostly serious, because I know most feminists (and pretty much all women are feminists now) don’t do those things. Most women I know are fantastic people with their own sort of feminine energy that make the world a better place to work and live in. The real problem is the small percentage of them that are violent who take up all the bandwidth on the internet, pissing men off, and ruining feminism for the women they claim to support. I enjoy calling them out on their ridiculousness, and forcing them to argue logically for what they want.

I agree with you on the non-Western women, though. There are a lot beautiful women from China, India, Iran and lots of other places, immigrating here, and they all have great personalities and work ethic. They really put some Canadian women to shame and are going to give them a real run for their money. It makes me appreciate immigration more and more each day :)
___________________________________________

Your list was a very well chosen list of truths!

IMHO Feminism is dying off anyway. Younger up and coming Women see Feminism as nagy old fashioned “ball breaking”, nor do they want to be associated with the words and actions connected to feminism as it stands today. Let’s just face it, there is little support for the idea that women are unequal. Sex inequality is not widely considered a major issue anymore.

Another 20 years and Feminist views will be met with stifled giggles and passive tolerance when Grandma comes over for tea.

I bag on Canada a lot, but one thing I can’t deny is its urban centers have female diversity in spades. You obviously know the many potential benefits of this. Even out in the sticks, certain demographics are becoming prominent and inter-racial marriages are being seen more and more.

I wouldn’t worry about the good non-Feminist Women out there. They’ve always been the majority, and soon will be a nearly 100% majority. Won’t be long before Gen Z rises to take over and feminism becomes the latest cultural taboo for a while.

Of course we are…
People were seriously misguided when they saw the Berlin Wall come down in 1989 if they assumed Communism collapsed..

No in hindsight…communism’s precursor…socialism spread.

We have “zero tolerance for “_____(fill in the blank)…police are no longer “peace officers “but Law Enforcement….the Gun Registry…and the lemmings who continually buy $1000 sq.ft. + condos, which are in essence jail cells in their preliminary mode. The list is long, growing longer and increasingly unsettling.

As a wise person once said…”the only rights you have are the ones you are wiling to fight for”.

“Just out of curiosity, if the stress test issue is going to kill the RE market, why are bank shares on a tear this past week”

Banks don’t own RE, they own loans that are legal obligations of repayment no matter what the RE market does. The very definition of being ‘short’ the RE market. Banks will also benefit from higher spreads, and the BoC will be forced to lower interest rates in response to the deflation that is thus created through falling RE prices.

Hence, higher bank equity prices. If the 1990s repeat themselves, the banks could have very handsome total returns in the 300-500% range for the next decade.

#233 Renter’s revenge
I agree with you on the non-Western women, though. There are a lot beautiful women from China, India, Iran and lots of other places, immigrating here, and they all have great personalities and work ethic. They really put some Canadian women to shame and are going to give them a real run for their money. It makes me appreciate immigration more and more each day :)
—————–
Too bad for you.
Most Asian women would not date a renter.

Today the Rate Spy CEO recommends people to hurry to get a HELOC or mortgage:

> What to Do
If you need a mortgage or HELOC in the next 120 days and you expect your debt ratios to be high, apply ASAP. You don’t want to lose lender options as banks start announcing they’re implementing the stress test ahead of time.
* ****************

#99 Steuy on 10.19.17 at 8:53 pm
Here, I thought we were finally going to serve up the 1%ers for lunch. I guess eating Fat Cat scoundrels isn’t in the cards.
**********************************
Did you mean that all small business owners are in the 1%? Hint over 2/3 are middle class.
Or did you just not realize that the changes now leave 97% of the lowest earning alone and still target the top 3%?

#63 Triplenet on 10.19.17 at 7:57 pm
#119 yesterday Ogopogo
Scummy realtors and filthy minions….thats just totally disrespectful.
Perhaps you should search out better business associates and advisors. There are credible professionals who for a fee will advise you accordingly. Of course you have to pay for quality advice.
With a million dollar investment portfolio earning 7% you could expect to pay a $7,500 annual fee. Every year.
For professional advice on a million dollar residence purchase – you may pay a $7,500 fee. Once.
……gotta ask – do you do your own dental work?
Ouch!
************************************
Your numbers seem way off.
$1,000,000 portfolio @1% = 10K per year
$1,000,000 home sale = 34K in fees

A decent investment advisor is actively helping manage your wealth and helps with tax and retirement planning.
A real estate agent holds some open houses.

Ugh. Some of these commenters are making me ill with their “I’m too old to have had to deal with todays violent 3rd wave feminists”, and stereotypes about “traditional” women. Seriously???
Ace Goodheart is about the only one offering some balance from a woman’s perspective – thank you! :-)
The rest of yous are just using misogynist stereotypes to brand feminists as “anti-men”, and defend your antediluvian views. Immature and disgusting really.
I thought the commenters here were more rational than average, but I guess when it comes to gender issues, we have a long way to go.
In general: stop demonizing others.

#159 8 Years of Failed Measures on 10.18.17 at 12:57 am
Once again, the impact of the OSFI is being heralded as a ‘market killer’ on this blog, much like every other federal measure implemented over the past 8 years.

Remember the moister killing stress test for insured mortgages last year that was going to wipe out 15-20% of buyers and see a corresponding drop in prices? How did that work out? Right, prices went through the roof with double digit increases in places like Vancouver, Victoria and TO…

Go back on this blog and review the joy each time the feds brought out a change that was going to be a market changer. Remember the elimination of the 40 year 0 down mortgage; the changes to the amount you could withdraw on your equity for purchasing other properties; the new down payment increases last year, to name but a few. And each time these measures were implemented prices went up.

I hate to burst everyone’s bubble but the main banks have already been using the new stress tests for a while in anticipation of the ‘changes.’ Some deals have fallen through as bank appraisals accompanying the new tests have not given the potential buyers what they wanted. Scotiabank in particular has already been doing this and the good realtors (oxymoron, I know) will tell you this.

And yet prices are super sticky and not going anywhere in most of the overheated markets.

Don’t worry, in about six months time, a new ‘market changing’ measure will be announced, all to keep the hope up of a crash.

———————-

Looks like a loophole will cancel the effectiveness of B20 – its impact already moot before its out of the gate.

Extending the mortgage to 35 years will cancel the effect of the stress tests, and all those millennial buyers get to keep piling in.

Well, at least B20 is in line with all the previous federal measures that were going to be ‘game changers’ but which failed miserably to cool the market.

“It would never have occurred to me that my gender was a limitation had feminism not suggested it.”

[That’s because a Woman in Today’s West has no inequality issues of any consequence.]

“I was not raised to be a feminist, and because of that, I was never encouraged to doubt that I was completely equal to men.”

[Feminist BS lines are sliding into the ditch starting with late millennials, and they’re not afraid to call it what it is]

“Feminism cannot survive as a movement if women truly believe themselves to be equal.”

[Bang on the money.]

“Thus, feminism survives by encouraging women to see themselves as victims, thereby ensuring there remains an adversary, a source of conflict to give life to the crusade.”

[Spoken like a true Conservative hard-ass – I love it!]

“…for feminism to survive, women can never win.”

“Feminism only wins when women lose.”

“Women can only be empowered if they are victims.”

[Genius!]

“When a movement that prides itself on subverting a tradition of female sexual objectification crafts a signature uniform that reduces womanhood to a tongue-in-cheek pun on the female sex organs, it’s hard to remain convinced by modern feminism.”

[I’d have to agree]

“This is what feminism looks like in 2017. The movement has deteriorated into a self-defeating entity, whose biggest enemy is neither society, the patriarchy nor any of the other imagined forces it encourages women to cower beneath, but simply feminism itself”

“In 2017, feminism is in the hands of the anti-feminists.”

I’d encourage all the “Feminists” here on the blog to read Kayla’s paper to get a view into their near future. She’s got feminism steered onto the right track (that track being the one that drives over a cliff).

#261 Ugh. Some of these commenters are making me ill with their “I’m too old to have had to deal with todays violent 3rd wave feminists”, and stereotypes about “traditional” women. Seriously???
Ace Goodheart is about the only one offering some balance from a woman’s perspective – thank you! :-)
The rest of yous are just using misogynist stereotypes to brand feminists as “anti-men”, and defend your antediluvian views. Immature and disgusting really.
I thought the commenters here were more rational than average, but I guess when it comes to gender issues, we have a long way to go.
In general: stop demonizing others.
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If Trudeau and Moroneau are backtracking…now what?
This is politics…optics are crucial.

Are they admitting they are wrong…”erred”???

I don’t recall them stating desperation mode and $”X” are required, though it is fairly clear that UNfunded liabilities exist and grow.

I maintain they are still desperate for revenue and will need to extort it from” somewhere”…but where ? They made a rather ill-advised attack on the private sector…ouch……which may awaken the masses to the other option…the civil service.

Sorry Mark but this: “Banks will also benefit from higher spreads, and the BoC will be forced to lower interest rates in response to the deflation that is thus created through falling RE prices.” make no or almost no sense. B20 is an underwriting qualification and not an arbitrary rate increase and spreads aren’t going to be impacted by enhanced qualifying rules unless all the bank lenders conspire to atificially broaden their spreads. And a drop in rates are rarely responsible for increased confidence in a bank’s.

There must be something else working here if the markets have already discounted the effect of B20 weeks ago.

The current definition is ‘hatred’ of women, not ‘dislike.’ In any case, it seems the posters take issue with feminism, not femaleness. — Garth
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Garth, there are various definitions depending on source. as for the posters taking issue with feminism, not femaleness, why the comment about feminists having short hair. Are women unfeminine if they do?

Not sure if this is some sort of political shuttlecock that both Gov’t and Private Sector bandy about to the masses like clockwork.

I read an analysis a while back that used a fast food franchise as an example. Doing the Math…and based on some previous productivity stats, increasing the minimum wage amounts to a very relatively small added “overhead” cost.

Those who do/may get hit are the small Ma and Pa places ..but then again many(especially restaurants) are closing not because they can’t afford minimum wage..they are paying above minimum wage but cannot retain employees even at $20/hour.

The $15 /hour minimum wage seems to be some sort of political football trotted out at the appropriate time and acts as a red herring to the affordable housing issue.

#173 Harold on 10.20.17 at 8:30 am
Instead of Yoga Studios, a simple fix would be to prevent Docs from incorporating so as to pay the small business tax when they are really quasi-government employees with guaranteed incomes (no bad debts as they are paid by tax payers; no questions asked) and also allowed to pay the small business tax rate by incorporating.
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Doctors would love to be employees. They wouldn’t have to cover overhead expenses for staff or equipment. They would get paid overtime at the labour law rates, which is a lot more. They would get all the protections of the labour laws, including the right to unionize and maximum number hours allowed to work. They would be able to go on quasi-strike and work to rule campaigns for better pay. They would get benefits, especially parental leave and sick days. Lastly, they would be paid more. If you think this would make healthcare significantly more expensive, then you would be right!

I usually use 100 and 250 day bank prices as the most accurate ad hoc measure of consumer confidence in the financial markets.

At the beginning of the year BMO for example was a little north of $100 but started a long declne even with record quarterly profits beating street estimates. So, even with the profits and increased divs, they slipped so confidence in their capacity to deliver results into the future was in question.

Now, with a clear and present danger to the banks’ capacity to grow their mortgage portfolios caused by B20, the banks are starting to touch their early year highs…something is working and isn’t fear. Confidence in the banks is either growing in retail investors OR there is a run to quality. The sort you sometimes see before the handcart heads to hell.

Chrusty Clarke’s former press secretary was “hired” by Morneau to improve his image. Most people in BC know the BC Libs are aligned with the Federalli Libs. BC has no centre right parties. Left and Far Left only, with the Soylent Green Party holding the balance of power.

While moi is maintaining a neutral position…..moi also had what I felt deserved some valid case (and still do) with one of these quasi judicial “hooman rytes” bodies. It went past first muster, but was kiboshed in later rounds .

In hindsight…they seem to prefer some sexy extreme cases,…as they have the often subjective discretion to ay or nay cases submitted.

Regardless..the treacherous slope is creating NEW PRECEDENTS and pioneering new toxic environments where free speech is continually marginalized.

You sound like Trump, when he realized that Eastern Euro women were still used to sexism in their country and would therefore tolerate it from him.

If that’s what you’re campaigning for, then maybe you should move out of North America. Get outta here if you are threatened by women who know their rights and expect the same respect you’d give a man. Boo hoo. Old fart who can’t relate to today’s women. This ain’t 1950.

#238 Ace Goodheart on 10.20.17 at 12:33 pm
Interesting comments on the male/female misogyny issues. I tend to have a slightly different view.

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Thank you Ace. It’s nice to see a real man say this from a place of understanding.

Honestly, having worked the very male-dominant industry of finance, I can say that the suit and tie is only a disguise for decency and respect. Often, these posers are the worst offenders. They must have watched too many “Mad Men” episodes. Its that very hypocrisy of the ‘gentleman’ front, when it is contrasted with the vile actions of someone who doesn’t deserve that title. Its an abuse of power, plain and simple. We see it more and more in the media now that people are starting to share stories on social media. And that is a good thing.

#291 Dissident: I want to do a documentary on this topic. People don’t see it. Girls grow up with it and mature into women who understand it as a fundamental tenet of life. No one questions it. And yet it is complete and total horse caca. It is the destruction of the female identity to promote the immature undeveloped male.

It benefits no one.

The feminists noticed it and railed against it. I have been a feminist since undergrad.

If anyone ever set it out in a documentary in detail and in a way that brought it home to the masses it would reduce most of our population to tears.

We are engaging in the wholesale destruction of the female identity. And we have been doing this for a long time.

It is time someone brought this knowledge to the masses. So girls everywhere could stop growing up into women who know the system and their limited role in it.

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The views expressed are those of the author, Garth Turner, a Raymond James Financial Advisor, and not necessarily those of Raymond James Ltd. It is provided as a general source of information only and should not be considered to be personal investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell securities. Investors considering any investment should consult with their Investment Advisor to ensure that it is suitable for the investor's circumstances and risk tolerance before making any investment decision. The information contained in this blog was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete. Raymond James Ltd. is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.